Gulp! Conran restaurants are now 'only fit for hen nights and suburban coach parties'

For a decade, Sir Terence Conran's restaurants were the epitome of chic dining, the trendiest places to eat at and be seen eating at. But now the vultures are circling.

According to the latest edition of a leading guide to dining out, they are only fit for "hen nights" and "suburban coach parties".

Amid growing gloom in the restaurant trade, the timing of the attack on Sir Terence's chain could not be worse. Harden's restaurant guide, due in September, will claim people are leaving the Conran restaurants "in droves" just as the autumn financial accounts will show a fall in turnover.These are troubling times for the restaurant business. Shares in the 18-strong Fish! chain were suspended earlier this month and the group put into administration. Shares in Chez Gérard, which also owns the fish restaurant Livebait, have plummeted and the company plans to sell as many as eight of its 31 branches. Even the ubiquitous Pizza Express chain that seemingly could do no wrong has seen its share price halve in the past 12 months.

With the "foodie" crowd plumping for bespoke, small-scale establishments, question marks willbe raised over the future success of Sir Terence's brasher and larger outlets such as Mezzo and Quaglino's. The man who transformed British interiors with his Habitat chain also revolutionised the restaurant industry with a series of startlingly designed, fashionable restaurants in London that also includes Pont de la Tour, Coq d'Argent and the Michelin-starred Orrery. The empire now stretches to Paris and New York, as well as Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.

But Harden's guide will rank no fewer than five Conran restaurants in the top 10 most nominated disappointing eating experiences in London. The guide is based on more than 100,000 comments from 7,000 restaurant-goers. Publisher Richard Harden said: "He has so queered the pitch with even the faintly, semi-metropolitan restaurant goer, that the only people going to his restaurants are on hen nights or suburban coach parties."

His brother and co-publisher, Peter Harden, said the restaurants "seem to work on the Phineas T Barnum principle, that a sucker is born every minute. We suspect that they do not realise how poor their 'offer' is, and in what level of contempt it is held by many London diners-out."

It's not just Harden's that has taken umbrage. In April, Britain's leading chef, Gordon Ramsay, told The Independent on Sunday: "Terence Conran is not renowned for his food. I think he is a pleb... I'd rather have food at my four-year-old daughter's prep school than eat at Quaglino's." Sir Terence retorted: "I can eat food as good as his from the Heinz baby food range."

Des Gunewardena, the group's chief executive, dismissed Harden's as "a maverick guide that has been slagging Conran off for years just to get publicity".

The Conran empire is still making a healthy profit but it is a private company and figures for the financial year to March 2002 will not be published until the autumn. Mr Gunewardena admitted turnover worldwide will be "slightly" below the £65m recorded last year. But the results "will not be disastrous and we are making money," he said. "We are not yet back to pre-foot and mouth levels. Trading is still tough... but in the context of how restaurants in London are doing, I am happy with how we are performing."

In fact, Conran is looking to open two new restaurants in London and another in Paris.

As for Harden's: "Don't look at it" said Mr Gunewardena. "It is a ridiculous guide. It is completely inconsistent with every other restaurant guide."